Tuesday, May 25, 2004

"Tucker on 610"

I was listening to the Steve and Mike show on 610 and decided to chime on the topic which was lack of Philly winners. I don't always listen to this show and sometimes they are cool, but other times they are idiots.

Anyway for the first time ever my phone call actually got through and I got on the air. I told them that falling short is harder for younger guys like me and my friends since we never saw a championship team and don't know how it feels to be a winner. We talked about that for a bit.

Then I said that the horse doesn't count. I don't which one (I can't tell their voices apart) starting going nuts. HE was saying that I should just have fun and be excited for the horse. At that point he turned into a Flyers vs Smarty Jones thing. Which wasn't my point. He said I should just get excited.

Before I could explain to him that I watch the first two races and was happy for Smarty I was either hung up on or my time ran out. So my point was never really made and I couldn't set him straight. He went on to tirade about me for a few minutes afterwards.

My point is I have had fun watching the horse race, but it still wouldn't count or make me feel what its like to be part of a winning fan base. First off I didn't know who the horse was till 3 days before the Derby so it is not like I grew up with the horse and taught about the horse like the other 4 teams when I was a kid. It is as if Smarty just appeared out of no where one day, and I don't think I would even talk about the triple crown much more than a few days after the fact. Where as if the other 4 teams won a championship I would be able to vividly tell my nephew about it when he is old enough to understand like older people tell us of the Phils, Flyers and Sixers winning teams. It is like I won't even bother telling him about Smarty. I doubt Jay and Jenna will tell Hunter about Smarty.

I mean it is like saying if sports team from one of the big 4 sports showed up randomly in South Philly two months ago I should be treat them as my own Feel the same way if won it all like it was my team. No way Smarty getting the triple crown will make finally understand what it is like to have a championship team. If the wings and phantoms don't count the horse sure as hell shouldn't.

What about the Soul? I could careless about them, but I bet you I would watch if it only took up 2 minutes of my Saturday to follow the team. I mean Smarty is cool and all and fun to watch race, but the fun only lasts a few seconds. Between races what is there to talk about? It's just one horse that runs around in a circle. Some of the articles on the race and his shot at winning again are just pure fluff. The four teams you follow their journey from the start and go through the playoffs with them.

I want Smarty to win. However I think it's lack of championship teams that have made this area embrace this horse as much as we did. Had the Eagles won the Super Bowl I doubt we would even care about that horse. Just because I rank smarty winning no where near a major sports team winning doesn't mean I don't want him to win or let the Flyers ruin my fun.

What a bunch of tools. Figures first time I get on the air and I get ripped a new one, although the 2nd guy kind of stood up for me. Maybe I should have just popped in my Big Fantastic CD instead.

Has anyone else ever got on to a talk radio show?

Also how about rating what the team means to you in order.



Tuckers Sports List:
Flyers (live and die by)

Phillies ( If I watch a whole game I really must have time to kill. I however do keep on the team on daily basis.)

Eagles ( I hate the stupidity of their fans and it almost makes me want to root against them)

Sixers (Meh I will jump on the band wagon if they make the final four. I like to read the AI dirt in the Daily News).

Sunday, May 23, 2004

"The Day After"

With his amazing play Keith Primeau made almost everyone forget his disgraceful display of turning Flyers legend Bill(y) Barber. into an enormous scapegoat after being embarrassed and ousted prematurely from the playoffs a few years ago. Despite the fact the Flyers couldn’t score a goal to save their life that year he blamed the entire break down on the coach who had lost his wife to cancer a few months prior. He along mainly with Brian Boucher slammed to coach who had been named coach of the year in the previous season by the league. They painted him into an utter incompetent moron who doesn’t listen to his players. Despite the team playing some of the worse hockey I have ever whitnessed in my life blame was a assigned to the coach and Barber’s not only lost his job, but had his coaching career ruined. Well maybe the hockey gods didn’t forget all this.

Bill Barbera who ironically has a position at the Tampa Bay Lightening who just sent the Flyers home for the summer could easily be wearing another cup ring on his finger in a mere two weeks. Something Primeau will NEVER have his entire career, and according to him will haunt him for a long time. Given the age of all the Flyers key players baring a trade a long time will be a life time for Prims.

Now don’t get me wrong it was a great ride and the captain did clearly everything he could to bring this team to glory. In fact I think he matured and realized how idiotic his remarks were. In fact some Flyers fans believe he was being used as a puppet by GM Bob Clarke who wanted to deflect the blame after failing to put together a cup team yet again. Not to mention the fact that Clarke always had animosity and jealously towards Barbara from what older fans tell me. Kind of like Clarke went to someone and made a move on the former coach.

Now this Flyers team I can’t get REALLY mad at. Not like the past 4 years or so. They tried harder than any Flyers team I have seen in a long time. Mainly because JR, Amonte, Zhamonv, and their captain all knew damn right well that this could very easily be their last shot at winning a cup. Younger players like Gagne had to know it might be his only shot too, look at all the older players in the NHL who still haven’t won it. What Keith (not me) did with this team was amazing. Amazing enough to put him in a chapter of the legacy of the Flyers however not enough to immortalize him anytime soon. He really relished his role as a captain and will likely rank just under Dave Poulin who led the Flyers all the way to game 7 of the cup finals in 1987. Of course that was against the dreaded Edmonton Oilers of the 1980’s easily the best team of our life time.

This Flyers team will go down as one we snap our fingers and shake our heads about. Damn, so close. Yeah I am proud of the way they played. However their special teams particularly let them down. They let the Bolts score too many power play goals, and couldn’t score on the man advantages of their own. Hmm, maybe the Barbara had nothing do to with their inept power play!

It was hard to watch the look of defeat on the orange and black last night. All they went through made for a fun entertaining season full of perseverance and great back stories. Especially JR, who will likely announce his retirement once the finals (hopefully my sadness will subside and I can watch) are done. All together a really fun season, with an ending that didn’t really piss me off like the last two season, but generally broke my heart. To make matter worse the shape of the NHL currently could mean that Saturday night when the clock ticked down it was running down on the history of the Philadelphia Flyers too. The NHL is on the verge of an entire collapse, and if the lockout lasts more than a few months it the Flyers and the NHL will be history. I can’t even say there is always next year, because we could be down to 3 teams in the city after last night.

As for Smarty Jones, he doesn’t end the streak. Don’t get me wrong I have had fun watching the horse run the first to races, but didn’t even know who the hell he was till 3 days before the Derby. If he wins that’s great, but it won’t end the streak. I will still be void of the experience of winning a sports championship. Not to mention the frigging horse is from BUCKS COUNTY not Philly. So that would be like counting the Rivershark’s as Philly’s own. It is just complete desperation and plain pathetic to claim this horse in the name of Philly sports teams.

So the ice melts in South Philly, and I have no idea when it will return. Regardless the team will be a year older next year if they do play and likely farther away from the ultimate prize. So take your seat with all the other stories off just falling short 2003-04 Flyers and enjoy you a lifetime of wondering what could have been till you win the Cup with another team or in the grave. Sit with the 1993 Phillies, and all the other close but no cigar clubs. Hell we could write a book or two.

I know this sounds really negative about a hard working team that got through a lot, but let’s face it even if you are proud of this team they aren’t champions. They aren't winners, and despite getting a round farther than last year, with all the money spend any players brought in this season was another failure. On top of that team likely lost money this season.


It was a great ride, but familiar one. With us watching someone's else team soak up the glory of being winners.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Tucker on the Classics: The Exorcist

I decided in addition to reviewing new flicks out in the movies now I am going to dissect classics too. I am going to try to do it more often. I was originally going to assign a day that my readers could count on a write up of a classic movie, but who are we trying to kid?

Anyway it is a wonder I went this long without seeing this movie for the first time (last week). My parents talk about seeing this movie for the first time together (given the year it was released and my parents marriage it was on TV) my mother had the living day lights scared out of her, and my father thought it was the funniest movie he ever saw. So that is the way the film is still viewed you either love it or hate. Years ago during a night of mindless hanging out at my house Ryan and I think Lima Beanz were sent to get a movie for the night the returned with the Exorcist after about 40 mins. Everyone got pissed and said they wouldn't watch it. So they returned later that night with Posion Ivy 2: The New Seduction.

Um..oh yeah the review.

Well the movie starts out oddly in Iraq before we blew it up. A bunch of stuff happens and this guy finds an idol and more stuff happens. I really didn't get the point of showing us all this. Then the movie settles into what you expect a semi-famous actress becomes worried when her daughter starts swearing like a sailor. Next thing she knows she looks increasingly more evil and even though the doctors (almost comically) keep coming up with far fetched excuses why her daughter and levitate beds, over power adults, and speak in other languages she knows better.

During the mother/daughter plot line another storyline is running along at a slower speed about a youngish priest who has lost his faith. Eventually he gets roped into the case of the actress's daughter and is invited to sit in on an exorcism. They sceen play inspired by a newspaper article decades prior rests it's strength and heart on questioning ones faith. Wondering what it would take for some one to think there could be such a thing a supreme being or evil spirits. Apparently, more than some split peas soup vomit in the face for some.

However, what it's famous for is the sequence upon sequence of creepy images including the bedroom turning ice cold, and Linda Blair talking in a demonic voice uttering words I had no idea were said on film that long ago. Eventually the title character (turns out he is the dude from Iraq in the start of the film) shows up to show the young priest how to oust demons from little girls. The slow moving film intensifies the last 40 mins only to end almost suddenly which is surprising but also refreshing had it been made today one would imagine they would try to trick the audience a few times about if it was really over or not.

The film is way better than my friends make it out to be. Although flawed mostly as far as the sceenplay goes for example the girl seems like she goes from normal to demonish in 30 seconds I wouldn't say the movie crap.

Lets face it as fun as the horror genre is very few such films in that section of the video store are actually "Good". One thing that alienates viewers from this film I think is the fact that there is no one real hero to root for. The mother is helpless, the younger priest isn't more haunted and melancholy than likeable. I saw the version you never seen (which would make the original cut that for me I guess) and figured before I read about it that the steps scene was way over the top and out of place. I don't know what version most people have seen that are my age, but that scene should have stay deleted. However the film is highly superior to Halloween and I would even say The Omen (better directed anyway). It was a good (not GREAT)and highly important film. So why do most of my friends detest this film?

Sopranos Wrap Up: Test Dream

When I looked at my clock on my cell phone and realized it was about 9:45 I soon realized that almost the entire hour of the show would be a lengthy dream of Tony Soprano. His trippy dreams have been a staple in the series for almost it's entire run and allows some very interesting visuals. Who can forget the famous fish dream during the episode where they whacked Uncle Pussy? It is still quite possibly one of the best shows they ever did. (Hmm..Maybe that would be a good topic one day).

Now let us get this straight I always thought doing something like the Sopranos did last week with dream world would be a good idea for a series. It allows writers to bring back famous faces from beyond the grave and have some real fun. However given the fact that the fifth season is winding down it wasn't the time, and in a show where the seasons are only 13 episodes long might not be the place to squander time in terms of moving along the series narrative.

Now most dramas are on the networks who usually have 22 a season, so if you want to do something like this in the X-Files (they actually did a few times) or even the West Wing (not that I watched more than 30 seconds of that show in my life) then that's cool. Shows like that a concept such as this might work better since you almost have time to kill to spread out interesting storylines to fill the time of a longer season and likely longer run.

If you are going to go ahead and do something as daring as last weeks show one shouldn't tease or cheat the viewer in the process. Is there any reason that why shouldn't get to see Tony B's botched shooting on Phil? It sounded pretty cool, but we will never know. There is no reason to not show that. Also if you are going to bring back Ralphie (love Ralph or hate him it's no denying that Joey Pant's ability to steal scene after scene has been sorely missed this season)and Big Pussy at least give them more than a blink your eye and miss them cameo. Ralph had one line, and wasn't even totally in the shot. Pussy turns around and looks at Tony. It wasn't till after the show that Liza made me realize Richie returned too. Some how I missed his rise from the grave. Wouldn't it have made more sense to have Pussy dispense advice about whacking people you love than a random coach? What a cheat, although John Heard (even though only hard core fans even remember his character) returning was a kick.

Okay so the point of the dream is that Tony must whack Tony B? Well anyone that has seen the cast list for season 6 knows it will at the very least take Tony a long time to maul over the situation. On top of that if Artie doesn't die soon then the dream really makes no sense at all. I don't really see Artie dying at all nor do I want him to. But knowing David Chase he will likely give him cancer.

The problem with the Soparanos is the same that hampered the X-files in later years. Too many different writers and directors. The tone of the show and style can shift from week to week, and with so much story to dive into one wonders why the show had to take that route last week. Not mention storylines are dropped like horse poop. Leave impressionistic imagery for film students, and random unexplained role switching (Heard in place of Finn's dad) for crappy David Lynch movies.

I am not going to say it. However many people who know what a fan I am of the show said to me in the immortal words of the comic book guy: "WORST EPISODE EVER!"

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Blame Tucker?

Okay right before I reformatted this blog page I made it in clear on herethat I thought the Flyers were going to hoist the cup this spring. I even changed the name of the blog to Tucker's World goes cup crazy.

Now I perhaps jumped for joy too soon since it was only after game 2, and the Flyers are now trailing 3-2 in the best of seven series.

So who out there actually believes that I could put an actual hex on them? Am I to blame if the Flyers are golfing by Sunday morning? I hope not, but I must warn anyone near me that if the flyers get bounced out to be aware of fits of anger and rage to stem from myself. I would like to tell you it is an act or me just doing what is expected, but I honestly get pretty pissed off and my lashing out of frustration is all true.

There is a scene in Ridley Scott's Alien (oddly deleted in the re-issue) where Tom SKerritt asks his computer (known as mother) what are our chances? I imagine Keith Primeau is asking the same thing to himself. Maybe he has hightech computer that can give him the answers he needs to force a game 7. Hopefully it is better than my computer which would simply tell him that it is buffering from now till the end of time.

Seriously do you blame me for getting to Flyered up? Also what do you think of the chances of winning game 6 let alone the series?

Monday, May 17, 2004

Captain Orange Crush

If the Flyers had lost last Saturday mathematically it could easily had been the last home game of the season. With the mood of the series shifting in favor of Tampa after it had shifted to Philly in the previous game the fans needed to get behind their team. The Flyers decided to give out orange t-shirts to all of their fans that said Orange Crunch on it, although on TV I almost appeared that no one was at the game it was still a cool thing to do.

Well the Flyers notched up the series, but still have to win at least one game in Tampa. It would be a hell of a lot easier to just win in Tampa once and win and Philly, but who can figure how this series is going to end?

One reason the Flyers are going to get a new lease on life and play essentially a best of 3 game series now with the bolts is the captain of the team.

Keith Primeau's performance to date has been bordering on legendary. Primeau who years ago got slammed for bad mouthing former coach (rightfully so it was a classless move) and Flyer legend Billy Barbara is long gone. I was at game one of the playoffs against the Devils, and I turned to Liza and said that Primeau was playing like a madman out there. I assumed something ticked him off because he was hitting everything in sight. I had no idea he could keep the same level of play up for game after game.

The last game (in fact the entire post)Primeau really did what a captain has to do. He kept the team cool, and lead by example. He set up John Leclair as if he was teeing up a golf ball for him. Later in the game he put it away when he used Simon Gagne as decoy to fake out the Tampa netminder and fire the puck past him. I don't think there was a person in the building that thought he would fire that puck let alone score. Although lately it isn't a bad idea to shot the puck instead of pass to Gagne.

Anyway Primeau literally has matched his season total in goals in just 15 games in the post season. It almost seems that nothing is going to stand in Primeau's way in order to hoist the cup. Don't think that the teammates don't realize what he has done he has become such a leader of this team you might as well call him Optimus Prime.

Hockey captains mean more to teams than captains in any other sports for what ever reason. For the longest time I figured Keith as a mediocre captain if not a little childish after that immature blaming of a coach for a team that lacked any real guts. It seems though that he has matured, and he even admitted that it was the wrong way to handle the matter. Of course previously the captain (briefly) was Rico, who know one could really understand with his thick French accent, and the big E who bailed on his team when the going got rough. So it's nice to see leadership come from the man with the "C", because you simply can't win a cup without it. Just look at all the last cup winners.

It's Primeau's team. It is time to leave his mark.

Random thoughts for game 5:

The team is likely spinning the media on JR. I hate to say it but its more than likely that he has another concussion. Not the flu, not a shoulder injury, but I guess its still technically an upper body injury. I have my doubts he will play tonight. Also if I had to I would play John Slaney from the Phantoms who has some experience in the NHL playoffs over Dennis Seindberg who is still recovering from a broken leg.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Oh SIDESHOOOOOOW Bob!

I didn't expect many comments on Tucker's World at all. Considering TERMINUS goes many articles without comments, and the Crew Blog is rivialing the Echelon Mall for traffic. HOwever I thought I would at least get a bite or two this weekend, but I soon realized that I was limiting comments to only people who are blogspot members, and even then its annoying to sign in anywhere in order to comment

I have fixed the issue so now anyone can comment. Sorry about that one folks.

Sopranos Wrap UP

The Sopranos is now in the final weeks of the 5th season which will be the next to last season. The 6th season is only to be made up of a mere 8 shows. So things should certainly start heating up. RIght?

Some fans are still grumbling that this past week's show that reloveded around Christopher's jealousy of Tony B. and growing resentment towards Tony S. wasn't quite fast paced enough and are starting to worry many plotlines will be left dangling till the next season or dropped all together. Nany people think nothing really has happened this past week.

It's fairly clear that the dead waiter from the start of the season isn't going to get anyone in trouble just like when Paulie Walnuts killed that old lady friend of his mothers last season. Just never really mentioned again.

The storyline last week had Tony B and Christopher go off to an old farm ran by a long time mafia man who had various dead bodies burried on his land. Since the mafia guy was selling the place they had to dig up the remains. Chris dig's up an old body of a man he whacked in season 1, that he already had to move. Although there was some confusion by peoople I talked to about the show wheather or not Ralph's head was burried there. I didn't think that it was, and figured they would have made a bigger deal of it. So I would say his head is still safely underground someplace.

Meanwhile Carmella drained Tony's beloved pool as a counter attack to him using up every decent lawyer in the tri-state area. The third storyline was about Janice going nuts at a lady at a soccer game. After taking classes to take get her anger under control Tony tests her at dinner to see if she can keep her cool. Of course she didn't, and viewer are left to wonder if Tony himself is just generally losing it.

The big back lash for last week's show was their tradition of misleading trailers really going over board. The body being thrown into the water was someone that was dead long before the pilot so it ment nothing. Chris crying had nothing to do with Adriana rating on him, the NYC gang war story line didn't advance at all, and Vito being gay wasn't addressed. n face Vito was glaring at naked women at the bada bing.

Go figure. On top of everything else the bear's random cameo the previous week was never addressed or explained.

I'm not complaining but I certainly see why viewers are. The next 3 and final 3 of the season will define what people remember season 5 for. Let us just wait to see what David Chase has left in his bag of tricks.

Friday, May 14, 2004

Media Gone Wild

In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.

In 1969 man landed on the moon.

Then nothing happened for a very long time till tonight. Tonight comments will become part of Tucker's World.

I have always gotten a kick out of the 11pm local news programs competing for ratings during sweeps month. However I don't think I saw anything as shameless as the promo I saw on KYW 3 (CBS) news. It was right after the final segment of CSI: Miami.

The promo said simply SWAT teams surround and move in on Center City and the Franklin Mills Mall. Now I knew that if it was really bad that they would have broke in to CSI: Mami and figured it was a war on terror drill. However they didn't mention the word drill at all, and it was just before the news started so people switching over could have been concerned. Why do you have the scare the heck out of us just to make us watch?

Now you might think to yourself no one is too dumb that they couldn't figure out what was really going on. However that's not true there are tons of dumb people in our viewing area. It took me an entire work shift a year ago to explain that the Amber alert had nothing to do with Al-Qaida to a jittery co-worker. I guess she thought it was a color or something. Horrible.

Anyway this same week after the horrific images Nick Berg were send all over the internet the Philly Daily News ran a headline that simply said BASTARDS. Was this too far? Was this unprofessional? A long time reader of the paper I saw surprised they actually went that far,and many people that saw the headline (okay I bought the paper) at work thought it was in bad taste.

Now flashback a week or so and we have the images of the Iraqis making little naked pyramids and dressing up in hooded black capes. In addition to various other creepy things to the laughter of US troops. Keep in mind (so I hear) this happened quite awhile ago and was under investigation. Now certain people begged CBS not so show it, because it would likely anger are people in the middle east who had Americans hostage. I'm not saying that we should ignore the mistreating, but maybe we could keep such things in mind. Articles actually had been written about such things before. Not to mention it was my assumption that kind of stuff went on, so although I thought it was a little creepy with the sexual stuff I wasn't all surprised. Should the media go think before it airs just stuff?


On the other hand I really don't know who the apology Bush gave was for other then to get Americans off the back of other Americans backs. It is not going to make them hate us anyless over there. Also I do realize the irony of it.Stil no one said sorry for Danny Pearl, 9/11, or Nick Berg. I doubt anyone ever will. Why are we demanded to do so when no one demanded anything from anyone that does this stuff or worse to Americans?


I just don't get it really. We are at war where people are killing each other that in my book is a little worse than Real Sex 34: Iraqi Edition. You can argue that the fact that we said sorry separates us from them, but I can think of a gaggle of other things that separate us from the "bastards".


Thursday, May 13, 2004

Tucker's New World

Well for those of you clicking on this blog you might have noticed that Tucker's World has finally gotten a much needed overhaul. I really wanted to do this for a long time, and when I sat down to devote ample time for it tonight, I was happy to see the Blog.spot has made it insanely easy to do so.

Now recent titles will stand away from the body of the blog, and you can click on them by title to go back and read them days later. This will really help out Drew's readers when he is nice enough to send them my way the few times I actually write something his readers would like to see. If too much time would pass in the past his readers would go to read about my view on lets say the war on Iraq only to find an article on gay sheep.

As much crap I have gotten for this blog over the almost two years that I have been doing it, I am fairly sure that my readers do enjoy reading my blog. I often get e-mails from my readers or Instant Messages giving me feedback if it was just ment for a laugh or if I touched on the hot "Water Cooler" topics of the week. Yeah I know my views on politics can differ from many of my friends, but I am my own person.

I am sure I have more readers than I know. For awhile Dan's co-workers were reading it. Once I got a random email from Kate who I had no idea had been reading it for a long time. Chris's ex-girlfriend Dana instant messaged me the other day and knew of topics I had written about on there. Amazingly enough in of my emails Price said he tries to read it to keep up. That is pretty damn cool that he is half way across the globe and still thinks to himself. "Hmm I wonder what Tucker's World is about this week". Hopefully this will give him a way to say hi to everyone once in awhile too, since everyone always asks me about him.


Now after all this time it's my readers turn. Starting this Friday night at 8pm Tucker's World for the first time ever allow it's readers to comment.

Now I hope people will be mature about this and use it to comment about what is written. Everyone is entitled to their views and I will never lower myself to petty name calling at any point. I expect that my readers that comment will keep that in mind. I have zero tolerance for any kind or over the line material. Thanks to the new feature on blogspot I can delete the comments anyway, and if I don't like what I see at any point I can remove the feature anytime I want.

So enjoy it, come back Friday night so I can through out a topic to get perhaps some sort of discussion about.

Don't Worry Be Happy

I refuse to accept any notion that my Flyered-up post the other night put the hex on my beloved hockey club tonight in South Philly. Sure the Flyers were beaten 4-1 by Tampa Bay earlier tonight and now trail in the series 2-1, but I haven't given up the faith just yet. The Flyers looked as though they could turn the tides for mere seconds in third period. Literally seconds before the Bolts buried the Fly-boys making it 3-1, and putting them two goals behind again.

Now the Orange and Black have their toughest game of the entire season Saturday afternoon. Despite the fact it will be 90 degrees or hotter on Saturday it will be time for some serious hockey. Just keep in mind the path to glory is paved through hell. The ice hasn't melted yet, and we still have time to push the pending NHL lockout into the back of our minds. Hopefully there is a hockey season next year, but lets not think about that too much just yet(although I have a pending article on it). Chin up Flyers fans this season's story of the Orange and Black is far from told.

So do not get all sad, as the plastic fish on the wall sitting behind my sings. "Don't Worry Be Happy".

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

"Soak It Up"

"Soak It Up"

Sure I picked the Devils in the first round, but honestly that was against my gut reaction. You see when it comes to picking the Flyers I over compensate for my basis that I know is in me. I know almost no one will believe that, but when it looked as though the Flyers were going to meet the Devils in the first round I told Drew at Sharkey’s that I figured it was the best shot they had to beat the Devils in a long time since Scott Stevens wouldn’t be playing who means more to the team than anyone. I also mentioned that if the Devils were bounced out by the Flyers (which obviously they were) the seeding of the teams in the first round would ultimately benefit the Flyers as long as there was the typical upset in the west. There was an upset when the Flames toppled the Redwings, and you could argue the same in the first round when the Sharks sent the Blues packing. Now I am very surprised that the Boston Bruins aren’t going skate to skate against the Flyers, but that just makes the cards fall even more in the Flyers favor. Everything is falling into place.

In addition to the teams that could give the Flyers trouble bowing out in the west the Flyers have pretty much filled up my entire imaginary checklist that is needed for every cup team.

A. Over Coming Adversity : So many things on the level that happened to the Flyers would have derailed teams from the past. They Flyers lost lots of key players for long stretches and over came it. They ousted the Devils when people are used to the other way around
B. Great legendary stories to go along with the quest for the cup. Exs: The hit on Kappy, the Captain redeeming himself and playing like a man possessed, Robert Esche, the blow out game, the OT winner by JR, JR almost having to retire, No Rico, etc.
C. Great goaltending. Without a doubt Esche has been amazing to this date.
D. Hungry players. They have enough hungry players to devoid the Country Style Buffet of food
E. Experience: The have plenty of warriors


Most years I have to figure out what is going to stop the Flyers from winning a cup and hope they do something to over come them. Now I honestly can’t think of anything that can stand in their way this close for THIS team of players to not have a parade. I really don’t I said at the start of the series (despite after 2 years of saying look out for them) that the Bolts are just too green and haven’t battled enough as a team to win a cup. Everyone fears Tampa but I don’t at all and think the Flyers could easily put this away in 5 games, 6 at the most. They almost won game 1 but had some odd bounces, and game 2…well we all know how that went.

I am not officially calling the Flyers to win the Stanley Cup but my confidence level that the Philly drought will end soon is around 90 percent. I honestly don’t see the Flames or the Sharks being a big threat. Of course the Flyers have to get out of this round to even ponder that so lets not get ahead of themselves. All I am saying is soak it in, because this is very likely the prelude to a moment for all us Philly Sports fans. in It will particularly great our mid 20’s or younger who have waited a literally a life-time. Live in the moment because if they win the Cup you are going to want to relive this time in your life forever. You will telly our kids about it. Or at least your friends kids. Maybe Smarty Jones ripped open a black hole or something running so fast that he managed to lift the curse of the Philly choke. Oh and it would be so awesome to get another cup before a Super bowl.

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Soprano Catch UP

Two weeks ago

Marco Polo aired.

I liked this one quite a bit. The main storyline was a party planned for Carmella's father and if Tony should be there or not. Since Tony is a master of the grill (like Brant) and good host most people wanted him to be there. Not to mention the fact most of the family still likes Tony despite the spreading.

Meanwhile Tony B. starts getting ticked this his wiseguy career isn't giving him a big house like Tony decides to take a free lance job whacking one of Johnny Sack's tops guys.

The joy however came from the cookout scenes, something I always enjoyed about the show. This show kept most of the story line in the backyard of the Soprano family, luckily the bear didn't show up for an all you can eat buffet Italian style.

Tony and Carmella however got back together well not really but physically anyway.

All and all a decent show packed with more laughs than bloodsheed.

Last week

Unidentifed Black Men

We learned Vito likes men when Meadow's boyfriend Finnaccidently sees Vito pleasuring some random guy early one morning when reporting to work. Finn got a bs job at a construction site that Tony hooked him up with. Finn is a little overwhelemed by the volience and apathy of quality of work that the wiseguys are used. The basically sit around all day and catch some rays and talk sports.

Vito tries to make FInn go to a baseball game with him in order to keep his secret love life just that. Finn freaks out thinking he is either going to kill him or try to make a move on him sexually or both and decides to dick him. After a night long fight Meadow and Finn get engaged. Just like I said they would at the start of the season!

Meanwhile Tony B lies to Tony about the hit he made Marco Polo. Johnny Sacks gets pissed at Tony again. The two disagree about some more stuff.

It looks like finally the storyline of the New York mob divided might hit its boiling point this week and its going to be a big one. My prediciton tonight is that Adriana dies. Something is mentioned about Ralph or Pussy.

Going to be a good one tonight

Saturday, May 08, 2004

Tucker's last Minute Picks

Flyers in 6.

Flames in 7.

More coverage to come........




AT THE THEATER WITH TUCKER

I saw this movie with my girlfriend and I don’t recommend anyone see this film unless you have a date because you will appear creepy since the majority of the theater is going to be filled with high school girls.

Mean Girls
The film starring teen magazine queen Lindsey Lohan about the inside of a group of bitchy high school girls sticks out among a sea of teen vehicles trying to showcase their stars. The films black sheep status is likely as a result of director Mark Waters who helmed the quirky art-house flick The House of Yes a few years back and turned out a better than expected film when he previously teamed up with Lohan for the breezy and frequently funny Freaky Friday. The film grossed much more than people had figured it would and got fairly good reviews which is tough to deal when the premise has been done numerous times.

I group Lohan with the likes of Amanda Bynes (who doesn’t sing), and Hillary Duff (after seeing Cheaper By the Dozen recently in which she was embarrassingly awful in she should stick to singing.) as the a crop young actresses who have a build in fan-base who many producers are looking to cash in on. They all have that Oleson twin appeal of looking more and more like they are supposed to be in playboy than seventeen magazines. I imagine people already have plans for some of these actresses for when they can start playing love interests opposite leading men old enough to be their father.

Anyway revolves around Lohan’s character who had spent time in Africa with her animals loving parents while being home schooled attending a public high school for the first time in her life. She soon realizes that the viciousness of the jungle isn’t anything compared to a nasty teaming of the 3 most popular girls in her highschool. They have a leader (or queen bee) and two butt kissers which are known by outsiders as the plastics for their trend setting power and reputation for being the star of the party.

When Lohan first arrives she is quite over whelmed and befriends a skater girl who has a gay side kick (the new comer who plays him is really funny) who warn her about the plastics. Lohan is invited one day to sit with the plastics who are generally nasty to most people. She sees this opportunity to be a social double agent for her skater friend and let her know what really goes on when the plastics have their exclusive gatherings. The most revealing is their burn book which dishes up all the dirt on the people of their high school.

In order to understand plastics you have to become a plastic, so Lohan slowly takes in their way of life. Their annoying catch phrases, their lying to justify their own personal gain and turning their high school into a chess board of pawns in order to please the queen. This doesn’t sit with the skater girl too well who believes her new friend has been corrupted by the way of the plastics. Lohan learns to manipulate even when it comes to the handsome guy that she wants to date, when she pretends to be dumb in math to be tutored by him. Her change doesn’t go unnoticed to her teacher (played by Tina Fay who wrote the screenplay based on a book) who is mocked and blasted by Lohan behind her back.

The film’s smarter tone may go unnoticed by the build in fan base but there is enough silly stuff like Lohan falling into a trash can, and her and the guy making goggly eyes at each other. Its an honest look at how powerful and down right nasty social politics are in high school, and how other students allow it by feeding their power. The film is social commentary more than a vehicle for Lohan, and with the clever tone along with an amusing supporting part played by Tim Meadows it’s certainly a film someone in their 20s can relate too.

For the record its okay to check out the queen bee because she is actually 26 yearsold, but not okay to check out Lohan who was 17 at the time of shooting. Go to Lohan’s IMBD page ( on the message board) if you want to join the debate whether or not her boobs are real. There are plenty pictures cut and pasted there of her in low cut or tight tops so you can make your own mind.

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

*****Tucker's World exclusive****


Hi-Nella Gone Wild

There is a rumor going around out there that PJ WhelihansÂ’s Pub is scouting out the after hours pubballoonss on Warwick road as a possible location for a new bar. I would imagine they would buy out Balloons, and have to redo the entire place.

Who knows if its even true, but I am sure the wick and Sharkeys wouldn't be too pleased. Or even Shady's for that matter. Kind of strikes me as an odd place for one. Regardless you heard it hear first.

"Tucker Bans Spidey"

I generally didn't care for the Spiderman movie that was out a few years ago. Maybe it was since it took me so long to see it, or maybe I just wanted Rich to have a good time. Whatever I didn't really care for the film at all. I thought it was way to campy for a first film in the series, however the trailer for Spiderman 2 made me want to see it. It was easily one of the best trailers I have ever seen and it almost worked on me.

However Spiderman 2 is going to be on my growing list of bans. Mainly because the film (that everyone already knows about anyway) has completed a marketing deal with Major League Baseball. All the bases and pitchers mounds will be decorated with Spiderwebs and from what I understand the films logo. Now that is just too far. Its sick. Maybe I should boycott baseball to since they are the whores getting all the money for this shameless deal. However at this point I am just putting Spiderman 2 on the ban list.

From the Drudge Report: (sorry Drew)
The deal is baseball's latest attempt to develop a splashier national marketing image. "In an ultracompetitive sports-entertainment environment, you have to take risks," says Tim Brosnan, MLB's executive vice president for business.


Splashier national marketing image??!?!? Oh Spiderman 2 is really going to make people watch baseball. How sick. Horrible Horrible Horrible.

Spiderman 2...............BANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNED!

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

FLYERS FINAL 4!!!!!!!!111

BRING ON THE BOLTS!!!!!!!!

real updates tomorrow folks.

Saturday, May 01, 2004

"Of Leafs & Men"

The Flyers are starting to fall into the annual curse of not being able to score more than one goal in a game. What looked like a short series with the Flyers up 2-0 go flip turned upside down when the Leafs came out on fire in Game 3 and the Flyers have yet to find a way to put it out. The Flyers have been the Maples Leaf’s little bitch from that point on, and allowed the Leafs to bounce them around like bocce balls. Every Flyer played most notabely Brasher and Recchi have spent the better half of the past two games on their belly’s with their helmets dangling off after being crushed against the boards.

Meanwhile JR seems out of sorts and one if he is seeing stars again from his major injury during the regular season. Once in the offensive zone JR the last two games he has seemed confused and intimidated and coughed the puck up an alarming amount of times. Handzeus has appeared as if he is skating through mud. Of course that could be said about most of the Orange and Black the past few days. Now the lead has been erased and it’s a best of 3 series.

The Flyers take it back to Philly tomorrow (Sunday) and really need the fans behind them. I am not saying its time to melt the ice for the season (or forever pending hockey Armageddon) but its certainly time for concern. Hopefully the Flyers can black out the past two games as if they never happened. It is time to just give it the old Sporty Jones spirit and step it up.

All the Flyers are being outplayed with the exception of Robert Esche who has had to stand on his head to keep the games at respectable scores. The Leafs have been free to toss everything and the kitchen sink at the Flyers net-minder. On the other end of the ice the Flyers remind my of an old hockey computer game that I used to have when a glitch would occur. For some two forwards are going so deep that they are spending most of the time dilly dallying behind Eddie the Eagle. Since even the Great One only scored a few goals in his entire career maybe that isn’t the best position to be in to put the puck in the net. Meanwhile the third man in is too deep in the goalies face that he could practically has his nose against the Maple Leaf logo. How the hell are you going to score a goal when you have almost no room to move your stick, while your line mates never bother to utilized the face off circles or the slots to any degree? So many stupid plays.

Now the player I have the biggest beef with is John Lecalir. Some people still love him though I remember Alyssa’s ex-boyfriend Anthony used to say how great he was, and I would argue that his post season performances were constantly sub-par. For years he would use his bad back as a crutch, but the last two seasons John Leclair has seemed healthy to me. So that excuse is out the window.

Leclair is for lack of a better word , useless. Including the last the last series when everyone and their dachshund were racking up points against the Devils, John Leclair has one assist in 9 post season games. ONE ASSIST!!!!!!!! For a guy making 9 million a season it’s an understatement to say he has to step it up. At least you hear Recchi and JR’s name several times during the game; I haven’t heard Leclair’s name once this entire series. The only evidence he has to prove he played at all recently was the dumb penalty he took. You might as well dress Peter White with kind of production you are getting from this sad sack. Every post-season Leclair does a disappearing act. Sadly with the money he makes Hitch will likely never bench him even though he should, so we are doomed to have this roster spot wasted for the remanding playoff games. Leclair has no heart and knows we can’t trade him ever and will get his 9 million dollars, not to mention amble ice time even if he stands at center ice and starts doing the triple axles for no apparent reason. Did I mention he sucks?

So the Flyers have overcame the Demons from north jersey. Now its time to shake the spring time zombie syndrome that have the Flyers looking like the walking dead every time they are about to be sent out to the golf course for the summer. Time to over come this like men. Don’t give up Flyers fans, but remember who ever wins this game 5 is likely going to win the entire series. Tomorrow the Flyers get take a step forward to everyone I can think of getting R-rated angry emails full of frustration or a step towards a parade down broad street. I will be having my fingers crossed the rest of the series and the other hand on the caps lock.
"Live From the Vault"

I have recently come to the conclusion that I don't see myself being able to call the new home of the Phillies the Citizens Bank Park everytime I reference it. That is what I miss most about Veteran's Stadium is the brevity of the nickname. So I am going to jump on the move to give it our own name. I'm going with the front runner that I happened to also like the best and refer to the ballpark as the Vault.

Also the home the Eagles Lincoln Financial I will continue to spell the name of the stadium's name "The Link" with a K instead of a "C" so farther distance it from its company name. No offense to Jenna or any of the fine people of Lincoln Finacal.

Friday, April 30, 2004

"Tucker & Mindless"

Well I hate to turn Tucker’s World into a dear diary, but I feel like I want to address my fellow blogger Jenna who writes Jenna & Mindless. I would also like to apologize for the lack of posts for the last week or so, and invite my readers to come back this weekend for what should be a heavy blogging weekend.

Anyway I have some readers who don’t read the crew blog, but so I didn’t want to drag them into the “hot water” that I got into a few weeks ago that put my friend ship with Lima Beanz and Jenna on the rocks. After Lima Beanz posted about his experience in a luxury box for the Flyers with some of the tax money that Jenna received for having a son. I commented the following

“I can't afford to go they tax too much money out of my paycheck to support other people’s children.

Hopefully I will get a better job soon so more money can be hijacked and you can be part of the HOME ICE advantage.

I never really got the expression "It Takes a Village" till recently.”

Okay it may have been in bad taste, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the insults that I have gotten from Jay over the years on the (gasp) internet. He has called me all kinds of nasty names and it was usually just over differences in politics. I mean come on Lima Beanz has a long track record of saying horrible things to people including his own girlfriend.

It was mostly meant as a joke partly about how many taxes were taken out of my wages, and it was riff of how they decided to spend their money. It was also advice that maybe they should be wiser with their money. You can argue that wasn’t any of my business, but that’s what friends are for to try to make people from doing stuff that will hurt them in the long run right? Wasn’t it Jenna that wanted me to stick upf for her when she thought Jay was pissing baby money away on Vet seats? Jenna now has a part time job, but didn’t at the time. After that I was slammed and cursed out and called an idiot in addition to physical threats.

It was over the top sarcastic like always; no different than Dan spending his cash on 5 computers, yet still making Jessica split the rent. Things got out of hand, and recently Jay offered me an olive branch. That was cool and all, but I really didn’t need it since I would have no problem with hanging out with Jay or Jenna at all. In fact I hung out with Jay a few days after the fact at Sharkey’s. However whenever conversation flowed down the table (we were at opposite ends) Jay would look in the other direction. I addressed the entire table including Jay, but he was unresponsive. Let me just say, that I am sick of talking about something I posted a month ago. So I am never posted about that comment again. Jay and I are past this I thought, why isn’t Jenna?


This past weekend the crew war broke out. Again I wasn’t there, but Lima Beanz supposedly made ethnic slurs about Duke’s girlfriend who is 100 percent Italian. I gave my readers a heads up to read what I knew was going to provide entertainment for the likes of Tom, Ed, Etc..

Anyway summed up the Crew War which can still be read I guess she thought was slanted against her. Well yeah, Duke and Monica clearly said worse things. But what do you expect after you tell Duke he has no balls and should dump his girlfriend on top of calling her a crazy bitch? Not to mention that the title of the article implied that the Crew had officially fallen. Jenna got upset that I said I called her every name in the book. Okay if you want to quibble it was 3, but there is not really a book so what the heck is she talking about?

I didn’t really state a side on the issue, but I most people read into it. I would need to understand Jenna’s side of it more I guess. Maybe I’m missing something but how I pieced together, but its confirmed that Jay used a slur that upset Monica. Period. They had from what I told a half kidding/serious conversation about Cezchs. (Lima Beanz’s background) versus Italians. Monica and Duke left not long after that, perhaps to avoid a public display of emotion. It was clear that Monica was upset by he comments. A reasonable amount of time passed for Jay to say he was sorry. It never happened.

Then Jenna told Monica she was a bitch and the downfall of the crew. Did I miss something? Jay admitted using the term, and if he didn’t realize it would offend her, I guess I can understand. However I don’t think he would make slurs against Steve Hanna’s girlfriend who is aisan. It clearly upset her (he knew this), and Monica at the time hadn’t said anything (that I know of ) nasty in return to either Jay or Jenna. All of the sudden Jenna who heard the incident via a third party comes out swinging calling her a few names. Of course Monica and Jamie’s post were going to be nastier in less than 12 hours Monica was called a couple of slurs, crazy and a bitch. I doubt anyone’s retaliation would involve a mathematical equation to figure out how many nasty words should be included.

Maybe she overacted? How many times did Jenna stomp out of Duke's apartment and slam the door after Jay upset her? Eventually she would return if Jay said sorry or not. Just two different girls dealing with it differently. We all remember the soda remark Jay made about Jenna most guys would have slapped Jay after that! Jenna admits she can't stay mad at Jay, which is a good thing in away. Chalk it up to girls being girls if you really want.

Many years ago the crew in the golden years there was a running joke about Price being Wican. It was fair game however one night I took things too far. I honestly don’t recall what was said. The next day Price came into Shoprite where I worked and told me that the comments had to stop and he was hurt but whatever it was I said. I was a little surprised it being in the Dan K era where all we did was roast each other for hours on end, but I understood. It was never and issue again. Most people don’t even remember it. There was no defending what I said if it hurt Price, so we put it behind us that very night. Now if I went on the internet and called Price a c**sucker or crazy a**hole (have to bleep out FCC regulations) I doubt we would be friends anymore. So maybe with that said I am on Duke’s side who is also my friend (who I knew years earlier) because without that blog post it wouldn’t have gotten to this level. It was like trying to put a flame out with a can of gas. I have remained friends with SO many people on other sides...ex Jay and Dan, Jay and Rob, Jay and Jenna.

Jenna and I have been friends since were in junior high. My record for taking her side is like 81 Jenna 1 Other people. She just posted that our friendship is apparently over. Over because of a hyperhole. I put my neck on the line and did major damage to the relationship with me and someone who is like a brother to me in defense of her. I stood up for Jenna more times than she will EVER know. Jenna might be able to blindly take sides knowing deep down inside she is wrong, but I can’t even it upsets that person. Sorry, I just don’t see why she wouldn’t want to be my friend if I think that you over stepped your bounds. If you want to quibble over how many nasty names it takes to fill a book, that is just a waste of my time. It was just an expression


I will not post anymore about its clearly time to turn the page in the book of my own life.



Wednesday, April 28, 2004

"Crew War"

"The Crew War"

Some of my readers never read the crew blog. So if you were ever going to now is the time. The Crew seems like is has officially died just read all the nasty stuff that started when Lima Beanz supposedly made ethnic slurs about Italians that Duke's gf didn't like.

I wasn't there so I can't really say. But I can sum up what happened on the crew blog. Jenna (who actually wasn't there either) slammed Monica (dukes gf) who is Italian and the first of her family to be born in the states. She said Monica was making too big deal of the slur which apparently was only directed at her nationality and not her. She called her a bitch and every nasty name in the book. She called her crazy and blamed her for ripping the crew apart.

Monica and Duke fired back at Jay and Jenna. Jay made more ethnic slurs, and pretty much all hell broke loose on the crew blog.

What transpired could likely have been avoided if an apology had been issued. Would have been a lot easier. However after reading Jenna's post which did the opposite going on the offensive it was clear it was a flat out declaration of war. Things just got really ugly.

Of course I wasn't there so I really can't say much. However it looks pretty certain that the crew is officially dead. Too bad I didn't include the Crew in my internet death pool.

note to readers:

In Jenna's post she doesn't include Price as a crew member. Also Dan and Allen were original members.
"No Room On the Hill"

For those of you that haven't heard by now I switched jobs a few weeks back and now work in downtown Cherry Hill. The office building where I work isn't all that far from my house. The ride up really only takes about 20 minutes sometimes less, but usually 20 mins.

Riding back is another story, since I seem to get out at the same time every other person that works in 5 mile radius gets out.( Although I do work two staggered shifts).
Anyway what used to be the Garden State Race Track is being worked over to pave the way for more office buildings, shops, and maybe even apartments. The race track was located right near where I work.

Now its a real shame first off that the racetrack went the way of the IHL (two people got that). What makes it worse is that the town of Cherry Hill is either so greedy for money they will get for more businesses or just plain out stupid.

Figure that the office buildings will likely be highrises with several companies and floors. Just in one tower alone its going to be another 1,000 people on the road at least. Another 1,000 cars on a horrfically over used section of Route 70. Since so much of this area of South Jersey is employed in that area (cedent mortgage isn't far either which employees most people in the area than other company) route 70 is an absolute mess. The different streets, like Kingshwy, Burnt Mill Road, Haddonfeild Berlin Road..etc..are all way over jammed from the spill over of people coming off Route 70.

How can the state allow this? This area of the state is not only having horrific traffic problems,but many of the highways are in poor shape. There is times where there is literally is no where for these cars to go and you don't move through intersections. You just sit there.

Now add on at LEAST another 1,000 drivers (that is really a low est.) to the same area and you turn a problem into a disaster. What in God's names are they thinking? The area of South Jersey simply can not take it. It literally took me 50 mins to get home the other day from a place that is less than 15 miles from my house.

What does my state have to be so brain dead on transportation? Oh sorry I forgot about the Riverline.


Sunday, April 25, 2004

Sopranos Wrap-Up

Sorry this is so late,but hopefully people check this before the new one airs. Sorry about not getting one up last week at all. It has been a hetic couple of weeks for me.

I defended the Sopranos all last season when people told me the show sucked. I thought it was pretty interesting during season 4. However there is no defending last week's show which was easily the lamest episode they ever made.

The plot involved Tony meeting up with one of this father's ex-girlfriends who was pretty colorful. Well okay so she was just a money hungry slut who according to her had a brief fling with JFK. The entire storyline was utterly worthless (not to mention a tad confusing) nothing new was revealed in the stories to Tony about his father's life. We already knew his father was unfaithful and his mother was a bitch. We got to see how Tony was a pawn in their relationship, but it was clear that Tony always took his father's side.

The direction of last week was fairly flawed. We aren't really given a reason why Tony's impression of this woman changes from minute to minute. The only thing I can gather is maybe he realized his mother was only a bitch because his father was terribly dishonest with her. So he tried to really like this woman that Johnny (Tony's father) decided to spend more time with for years than his own wife. Maybe making Carmella miserable would pass on the headaches to his children. That would explain why he blew her out of proportion to his friends at the end.

The other plotline involved Christopher having to put his business first over his friendship with a rehab friend who owed him money. It was the same basic plot we have seen before mobster gives someone a chance to make money, and eventaully has to resort to volience to get their owe. This was different because Chris was friends with the guy, but than again we saw Tony go through this an entire season with Robert Patrick's character. Chris' friend played by Tim Daly (2 pts for being a Wing alumni, and 2 extra points for being a Diner cast member) provided some laughs when he was at his meetings, and again when trying to sell the emmy. However maybe they should have just introduced him earlier in the season so there would have been more drama there instead of making it just seem like a guest star's storyline.

The third plotline had a bored Junior trying to get out of the house by attending and funnerals he could.

All and all it was pretty much a yawner of a show. I havent talked to anyone who actually like this past week's show.

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

"Round 2: Round Up"

Before I get to telling everyone my 2nd round picks I am going to take a look at the first round again.


West
Red Wings vs Predators

What Really Happened: Redwings won in 5. Despite the series being tied 2-2 at one point.

What Tucker said: Redwings in 5.

Sharks vs Blues

What Really Happened: Sharks in 6.

The Sharks chewed up the Blues in 5 games.

Canucks vs Flames

What Really Happened: Flames in 7.

I called the Canucks in 7. Hey how was I supposed to know Cloutier was going down? What a close series though.

Lanche vs Stars

WOW I called the Stars going out in 5 and they actually do!!!!!!!

East

Flyers vs Devils

Okay I am glad I was wrong here and the Flyers not only won, but won all but one game.

Lightning and Islanders

Looking back I see I didnt put a number on the series for whatever reason. Although I said publicly I thought it would be the only sweep of the first round. It actually took 5 whole games to oust the Isles.

Bruins vs Habs

Um. Thought the Bruins were winning in 5 here. I was WAY off. Just shock and awe from Montreal when they came back from being down 3-1. It looked like I was going to be right there for a second.


Leafs vs Sens.

I said Sens in 6. WRONG AGAIN. Leafs in 7.


Round 2

The Flyers in 6 over the leafs

Montreal will upset the Bolts in 5 games.

Out west the Red Wings will dump the Flames in 6 and Colorado will have long series full of OT games but win in game 7.

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

"Sept. 11th Blame Game"

I really have to just laugh at all the liberals out there that are saying they wish Bush had done something during to prevent 9/11. First off of course everyone one would have liked to stop that horrific day. However its likely that flying commuter airplanes into buildings.

The only thing that you could have really done is been stricter on immigrants and detaining suspicious potential terrorists based on intelligence. Honestly do the liberals actually believe that the would or wouldn’t have a problem with Bush’s administration rounding up Middle Eastern people with very thin explanations to justify it. These people that now think Bush should have taken means are the same ones that bitched that measures have been taken post 9/11.

Okay yeah I don’t doubt that some innocent people were detained after 9/11, but tons of potential threats are either now with Allah, or giving the US more information on potential threats. Although I do believe that sometimes they were just jerking our chain its certainly helpful. Can you imagine if the 9/11 highjackers were pulled out of line at the airport and detained for having box cutters on them? A flurry of hell would have been released on Bush. It is so hypocritical it is almost funny.

The 9/11 inquiry just became a nasty witch hunt. All anyone has done has pointed the finger or shrugged. Its been highly political too. Of course we deserve answers about how it happened. However its not just one man. Neither Clinton and Bush are the only ones to blame, the central intelligence should have seen it coming.

Now who do you blame more Bush? Or Clinton? Under both were attacked on US soil once. Oh was I supposed to through out the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center because the towers remained standing afterwards and stock market was good? Okay than credit the USS Cole to Clinton’s watch. Either way they can’t really said they would have done much either since little or nothing was done after the fact.

At the same time Clinton knew of the camps and Bin Laden long before average Joe American could tell you who Osama was. Some reports even indicate her turned down an offer to get the criminal mastermind.

Could Bush have acted swiftly on vague information he was getting from his intelligence? Yeah in hindsight he should have. However its not like Bin Laden just planned the whole ordeal over night the plans go back to 1996 at least. In fact in an ABC interview he more or less indicated things were likely to get ugly and voiced lack of a respect for the US military. I don’t think he feared the US much and could have been even a little surprised nothing was done after 1993.

In Clinton’s defense he did supposedly stop a terrorist plot for the new millennium while we were precouiped with making sure our computers didn’t go back in time to 1900. In fact would imagine many such plots are spoiled perhaps even closer to be carried out than we would like to think about without the American public knowing.

Regardless I don’t think Clinton would have just being playing his sax and getting hummers and simply say “Eh” if he knew of the impending doom either. I don’t think Bush sat back and let it happen either. More importantly even with more information put in better order its still questionable if they could have ever have thought that the terrorists would have done it the way they did it and its likely anyone detained could have been easily been replaced by another Joe Terrorist eager to meet his virgins.

So what did we learn from having all the famous people squirm in their seats when the 9/11 interrogators did their bad cop- bad cop routine? Um basically we screwed up bad and no wants to be at fault. Its lots of peoples fault and its now time to just prevent it from happening. There is no time like the present and its best to stop scratching our heads looking into the past before Osama Bin Laden pulls a Bertuttzi on the US

Sunday, April 18, 2004

"Sympathy for a Devil"

Maybe the old expression about your mother always being right is true. Earlier in the playoff round bettween the Flyers and Devils my mother told me she thought that Pat Burns looked awful. I told her he just looked older than the last time she saw him (she only really pays attention to playoff hockey). I suggested maybe its cause the Devils have a policy that their coaches be clean shaven which resulted in him shaving off his trademark mustache. Just thought my mom was being "crazy" again.

Anyway turns out something was wrong and rumors were starting to fly last night that Burn who had missed two practices for the Devils was ill. Earlier today (Sunday) the Devils made it public that Pat Burns has colon cancer. Just horrible news.

I was always a big fan of Burns going back to this Maple Leafs days and was hoping the Flyers hired him once when he was out of work and the Flyers were shopping around(when they ended up with Hitch). Burns won the cup with the Devils last season.

Anyway despite been the coach of the hated Devils I really hope he pulls through. God knows the hockey world has lost too many in short period of time with Herb Brooks, Roger, and Danny Snyder.

Hope Pat Burns gets well soon and is behind the bench next year. I also hope the Devils players have fun working on their golfing game.
"Reversal of fortune"

Well the Flyers advanced to the 2nd round on Saturday and I am glad to say I was wrong. I base my prediction base solely on the Flyers of the last two weeks of the regular season. Esche played pretty lousy the last two weeks.

Anyway what happened was almost a reversal of fortunes and this time it was the Devil's goalie letting up goals from really far away at the worse possible time. For second I thought perhaps somehow Check-O was in net for the Devils.

The Devils only successful game was when their powerplay was actually working well. Just like when the Flyers used to get smothered by the Flyers in previous years the powerplay was totally powerless. It was so much nicer to be on the other end of the stick for this one.

Game 4 the Devils through everything but the kitchen sink at Esche and what transpired might have been the single most amazing performance in a single period by a Flyers goalie that I have ever seen. Esche stood on every single body part he has in order to stop the puck from going in. He single handily won the game and prevented a potential tide shift in favor of the Devils. It wasn't as if the shots were just weak ones either the Devils had amazing puck movement resulting one timers, wrap arounds, crashing the net and even a few straight on one on one shots.

The Flyers after years of trying got the demonic monkey off their backs in South Philly Saturday and gave the Devils an early summer.

All and all a very great series. It just feels different then other first round advances. It sucked to lose Lappy and Rico but their replacements are doing just find. With the Blackhawk down line playing the way they are combined with they way Esche played I doubt any teams want to play the Flyers in the 2nd round.

Saturday, April 17, 2004

"Call Me Danton"

"Call Me Danton"

Well if you haven't heard the lasted national hockey news you can check out this link.http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040417/ap_on_sp_ho_ne/hkn_blues_danton_charged

Blues forward Mike Danton is allegedly wrapped up in a murder for hire plot. I honestly never even heard of the player, but apparently he used a different the name Mike Jerfferson when played with the Devils a few years ago. (what?)

Anyway I am going to offer to be his lawyer and plead to the Judge to let him off because at the time of the crime he was simply "CUP CRAZY!"

Email me Danton aka Jefferson or at least call up Kevin "I don't know where that cocaine came from" Stevens for legal advice.

Seriously call me up so I can plead Cup Crazy and get you off.

Friday, April 16, 2004

"The Magical Myth of College"

After being out of college I have come to somewhat of a disheartening realization that in many cases that college degrees mean little or nothing in the real world. There are what I consider “hard” degrees out there like Education, Engineering, Nursing, and Physical Therapy are the only ones that provide any kind of future. Some of which you don’t have to shell out your money to a four year degree to attend.

Just look out how aggressive colleges go after high school seniors and its clear that colleges see students as customers not as students. They want to get them in, take their money, than send them out in order to bring in the next crop of sheep. In addition most universities have made it nearly impossible to actually get done an education in four years.

Now I don’t want any sympathy from anyone at all. However I just don’t understand why our society is so obsessed with sending our nation’s youth to get degrees. From that minute we are young we are told if we ever want to be a grown up that we should go to college. So by the time you are done high school most people start thinking about which college they should go to. Most people think that the ones that choice college for the work force will be at an advantage over the ones that finished their education after their senior year of high school. However, most college students get directed either by their common interests, or lack of direction into various worthless majors. These majors don’t prepare them or qualify them for next to nothing in the real world.

My personal journey started me out in Camden County College since it was close and affordable. I don’t really know why this school gets such flak and people say you don’t get a real education there. I swear my professors were much harder on me there than later when I transferred to Rowan. The professors actually gave a damn about their students unlike at Rowan. Rowan professors are notorious for not showing up to class many times simply because they don’t feel like that or make other jobs a priority.

The professors at Rowan were a bit off to say the least. I had one woman who told the entire class that George W. Bush had a 40 year-old son who hid during the 2000 election to appear younger. She insisted that this was true even though I raised my hand and told her that I never heard any such thing. Actually that would make the President a mere teenager when he had a son apparently (according to her) by a woman other than Laura. I finally got her to admit to the class that it wasn’t true and she said she might have been thinking of his nephew. Another professor I had didn’t show up if a single snow flake fell. Yet another spent most of his time in Africa and made every chapter of the American History book into an African history lesson that had nothing to do with the assigned work. Of course we had various other bleeding heart liberals that just wanted to spread their opinions and brainwash gullible students into buying into their personal ideology.

Anyway I will admit the Public Relations program is very demanding of time and effort. The professors there are seemingly great “practitioners” because they manage to convince roughly 70 graduates of the school that it is a worthwhile major. Half way in I realized the truth the entry level positions for the job are less than the amount of students the crammed into the requirement classes add in all the other PR majors from rival schools and you got yourself quite a lock jam. I unfortunately was a commuter student and had to work my though school so I didn’t have time for their after classes clubs. This mainly consisted of a bunch of girls who reminded me of the girls I hated in high school and bundle of tools.

My experience after getting my degree has been tough. I opened my playing field to various other jobs with promising futures and growth potential like corporate sales. I consider corporate sales to be any job where you are doing Business to Business sales, most of these jobs have you in a crowded room on the phone for 60 hours a week trying to get your company’s product purchased by other companies. However I couldn’t get one of those jobs to save my life. To be honest I don’t even know if I wanted half of them considering I don’t know anyone that would actually want their product and in some cases didn’t even know what their product even exactly did.

I don’t regret going to college really I grew as a person there, and its no ones fault but my own in regards to what major I decided on. I only wish I could warn the students each fall to either get a “hard” major or drop out do something worthwhile such as becoming an electrician. You could argue that I am one that just slipped through the cracks, however I know many others in my major that to date who have yet to land a “college” job. Heck I have two friends who have Criminal Justice Degrees that aren’t remotely close to stopping crime. Another in Biology which if you are lucky you can land a teaching job, but its lot harder than going the traditional route.

This past week I left my Sears job changing jobs for the first time in over 5 years. The job I have taken is on the even plane as Duke’s Kelly’s job I guess since I don’t plan on making it a career. I did know however that jobs that you are told you can receive with a Public Relations Degree, Liberal Arts Degree, Marketing Degree, Communications Theory Degree, Economics Degree, and Criminal Justice Degrees are few in far between if not flat out myths. Now I have made the decision to put Sears in the past use this job as a stepping stone. I have no idea if this will be the right decision for awhile and its not unlikely I could deicide quickly to quit this one too. All I know is what I am looking for isn’t the Sears Outlet. I recently put my last name tag away as memento of my years of service. Its already been misplaced somewhere in my room though collecting dust as it never existed in the first place same as my degree from Rowan.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

"The Magic Myth of College"

After being out of college I have come to somewhat of a disheartening realization that in many cases that college degrees mean little or nothing in the real world. There are what I consider “hard” degrees out there like Education, Engineering, Nursing, and Physical Therapy are the only ones that provide any kind of future. Some of which you don’t have to shell out your money to a four year degree to attend.

Just look out how aggressive colleges go after high school seniors and its clear that colleges see students as customers not as students. They want to get them in, take their money, than send them out in order to bring in the next crop of sheep. In addition most universities have made it nearly impossible to actually get done an education in four years.

Now I don’t want any sympathy from anyone at all. However I just don’t understand why our society is so obsessed with sending our nation’s youth to get degrees. From that minute we are young we are told if we ever want to be a grown up that we should go to college. So by the time you are done high school most people start thinking about which college they should go to. Most people think that the ones that choice college for the work force will be at an advantage over the ones that finished their education after their senior year of high school. However, most college students get directed either by their common interests, or lack of direction into various worthless majors. These majors don’t prepare them or qualify them for next to nothing in the real world.

My personal journey started me out in Camden County College since it was close and affordable. I don’t really know why this school gets such flak and people say you don’t get a real education there. I swear my professors were much harder on me there than later when I transferred to Rowan. The professors actually gave a damn about their students unlike at Rowan. Rowan professors are notorious for not showing up to class many times simply because they don’t feel like that or make other jobs a priority.

The professors at Rowan were a bit off to say the least. I had one woman who told the entire class that George W. Bush had a 40 year-old son who hid during the 2000 election to appear younger. She insisted that this was true even though I raised my hand and told her that I never heard any such thing. Actually that would make the President a mere teenager when he had a son apparently (according to her) by a woman other than Laura. I finally got her to admit to the class that it wasn’t true and she said she might have been thinking of his nephew. Another professor I had didn’t show up if a single snow flake fell. Yet another spent most of his time in Africa and made every chapter of the American History book into an African history lesson that had nothing to do with the assigned work. Of course we had various other bleeding heart liberals that just wanted to spread their opinions and brainwash gullible students into buying into their personal ideology.

Anyway I will admit the Public Relations program is very demanding of time and effort. The professors there are seemingly great “practitioners” because they manage to convince roughly 70 graduates of the school that it is a worthwhile major. Half way in I realized the truth the entry level positions for the job are less than the amount of students the crammed into the requirement classes add in all the other PR majors from rival schools and you got yourself quite a lock jam. I unfortunately was a commuter student and had to work my though school so I didn’t have time for their after classes clubs. This mainly consisted of a bunch of girls who reminded me of the girls I hated in high school and bundle of tools.

My experience after getting my degree has been tough. I opened my playing field to various other jobs with promising futures and growth potential like corporate sales. I consider corporate sales to be any job where you are doing Business to Business sales, most of these jobs have you in a crowded room on the phone for 60 hours a week trying to get your company’s product purchased by other companies. However I couldn’t get one of those jobs to save my life. To be honest I don’t even know if I wanted half of them considering I don’t know anyone that would actually want their product and in some cases didn’t even know what their product even exactly did.

I don’t regret going to college really I grew as a person there, and its no ones fault but my own in regards to what major I decided on. I only wish I could warn the students each fall to either get a “hard” major or drop out do something worthwhile such as becoming an electrician. You could argue that I am one that just slipped through the cracks, however I know many others in my major that to date who have yet to land a “college” job.

Heck I have two friends who have Criminal Justice Degrees that aren’t remotely close to stopping crime. Another in Biology which if you are lucky you can land a teaching job, but its lot harder than going the traditional route.

This past week I left my Sears job changing jobs for the first time in over 5 years. The job I have taken is on the even plane as Duke’s Kelly’s job I guess since I don’t plan on making it a career. I did know however that jobs that you are told you can receive with a Public Relations Degree, Liberal Arts Degree, Marketing Degree, Communications Theory Degree, Economics Degree, and Criminal Justice Degrees are few in far between if not flat out myths. I just wish we could get past the LIE that college benefits everyone. Most degrees are worthless and the school knows it but its makes them bundles of cash.


Now I have made the decision to put Sears in the past use my new job as a stepping stone. I have no idea if this will be the right decision for awhile and its not unlikely I could deicide quickly to quit this one too. All I know is what I am looking for isn’t the Sears Outlet. I recently put my last name tag away as memento of my years of service. Its already been misplaced somewhere in my room though collecting dust as it never existed in the first place same as my degree from Rowan.

Sunday, April 11, 2004

Soprano Wrap-Up

"Irregular Around the Margins"


Last week’s Sopranos will likely go down in history as one of the top 10 episodes of all time. The intensity of the show was it its best last night.

While Christopher was smuggling stolen goods for cigarettes down south, Tony was getting coked up with Adriana. The two of them almost become “intimate” with one another before getting interrupted.

The next day in therapy (this guy is in and out of treatment more than Claude Lapointe) Melfi is glad to learn that Tony thought with the head above his shoulders for a change.

The next night Adriana and Tony hang out at her club once again and their cocaine is fresh out. So Adriana calls up some shady guy who lives down in Dover who tries keep long hours for all his loyal customers. Since she needs a ride home Tony offers to drive down there, however their drug run is caught short when Tony rubbers up trying to avoid some sort of furry creature.

Eventually it gets out that the two of them are together late at night. Eventually the events of the night are blown out of proportion when the story gets passed on.

Christopher gets fired up that Tony was making the moves on his girl. So he fall off the wagon (like I predicated) beats Adriana, and shoots up Tony’s um other SUV.

Tony doesn’t like his life being threatened too much and they try to reenact the Joe Pesci scene from Casino in a remote cornfield. Eventually Tony B. talks sense into Tony S.

Later Tony makes Carmella come to dinner with him along with Christopher and Adriana, Tony B. and his mother.

Predictions:
Tony B. gets into a rough spot, but doesn’t go bad.

After thought:
Lots of tension in this season so far. I am not sure what I think of Vito being a capo. I don’t think it will last too long. Wise guys tend to payback each other via cold revenge.

Friday, April 09, 2004

Tomorrow at 6 PM if at all possible join me in the joy of leaving a job I hated for quite a while. I am going to play the Who song "I'm Free" in my car when I leave at 6pm tomorrow. If you have the song play it around that time. I am going to blare it in my car upon leaving that hell hole.
“24 Hours to Go”


Well I am roughly 24 hours before I walk out of the Sears Outlet and become a former employee. It will certainly be strange, and it was to a certain extent a daring move. The job I landed is far from a home run that will likely provide me with the finances that can bring me to where I want to be independently however its much more money than I was making and I plan to use the job as means to get into a more appealing department or to assist me in landing a more desirable job.

This new job that I have landed very well could end up on the same list as Dan K’s bus boy job, Drew’s Strawbridge’s career, or Duke’s paint selling days however I had to leave Sears before I lost my sanity. I did manage to make some friends there and the job did serve its needs when I was in school. However I have become more and more disgruntled with their horrendous way the superiors treat their employees. I could list every example however I fear I would crash my blog and although it would bring joy to certain readers I am not yet ready to retire from the blog thing just yet.

As much as I hated “The dungeon” as I refer to it as its undeniable that it will be strange walking out the automatic doors that rarely work properly for the last time tomorrow evening. That job dates back to my Camden County College days. Its where I had to work hung over or with literally no sleep many nights after New Brunswick parties or returning from Brigantine. Its where I witnessed the horrific events of 9/11 live on a big screen television. My employment there was the duration of most people’s college career’s and I started there months before Jenna who went through 3 boyfriends (still on the third) and several returns to the gloomy warehouse. Several people came and went, and that place was one of the main constants in my life for over half of a decade.

Here is a random list of my most memorable Sears moments.


The time a temp service was hired to employ our store, because no one wanted to work there. This resulted in various ex-convicts working as merchandise handlers. Many of them did time in prison for various crimes mostly assault related. One man that worked one day was seemingly homeless with a gaunt look and unwashed long hair and beard. I was told to try to stop customers from seeing him. His job was to clean the store, but he ended up watching television for most of his shift as if it was a new invention.


Jenna and her romances through the years including a date with a guy named Tobin who she claimed was the dullest date that ever took her out.

This guy I worked with Dan who would get a reward for one of the sleaziest people I ever met. He actually was the boss of the receiving department for awhile. He did almost no work and was on the phone with his ladies most of the time or using company time to take care of personal business. When he actually did come on the floor it was only because everyone called out or to tell his co-workers about his a recent sexual conquest. Once he bragged he didn’t know her name. I met one of his girlfriends and she was dumber than the ranges I sold. He was kind enough to inform me his distain for safe sex. The few “girlfriends” he had he cheated on with various girls and they were to dumb to realize.


A guy that looked like a burn victim who had an ill wife (who recently passed away) worked there for a long time. He was older than my dad, but looked like a lizard. Although he was generally a nice guy I really didn’t want to hear how horny he got since his wife could not longer have sex. Nor did I want to hear what he wanted to do with any woman that came into the store under 30. 5 days a week several times a day he would tell me how horny he was and that he could go for hours with young woman and amaze them. He was faithful to his wife so didn’t bend anyone over a washer while he worked there, however he was under the impression that they all wanted him to give it to them good.


Good old Ed who occasionally writes for Tucker’s World. How could I forget this guy? The lanky dry humored Ed lurked around the refrigerators at Sears for quite some time. Eventually we became friends and enjoyed hiding in the refrigerators together. Ed became increasingly more interested in the Crew and I told him stories about the crew as if our lives were interesting. Ed hung on my every word as if I was reading him prolific ancient literature.


Good Old Tom who had the best job in the world sitting in the back of the store signing out merchandise. Most time he would read his Maxium, newspaper I gave him, or paint little alien figures. They decided to make him in sales and merchandise handling and dick with his hours, and one day they caught him sleeping and that was the end of his Sears days.


This guy Myron who worked there once offered to buy the hooker if paid for the hotel room.


Joe Trevi, the best boss I ever had. He hated Sears and the policies more than I did (do). He smoked a cigarette almost every 15 minutes and constantly cursed on the sales floor. He also often made penis jokes that were quite funny.

The crime wave of corrupt employees, who stole from the cash drawer, stole merchandise, sold merchandise under the table, and drank or did drugs while on the job. Way too many people to recall that would be able to be squeezed onto this list.

The time Jenna’s customer sent her a letter to her house despite her not giving out her address.

Dave Breen. I will leave that open to former Sears Outlet employees that read this blog. I am sure you all have your favorite memory of this unique cat.

All the customers that I wanted to punch.


Thursday, April 08, 2004

"CUP CRAZY"

Sorry this is a little late and I guess you give me crap for calling the shots on the teams that have already started.

Western Matchups


Red Wings (1.) vs. Predators (8)


Well Nashville is in the playoffs first the first time ever and they could not have gotten a bigger challenge for a 1st round Opponent. Both teams have a goalie that has never played in the playoffs before in Vokoum (an ALL-Star this season) and Legace who is finally getting his big chance. However its the Red Wings man.

Red Wings in 5.

Sharks (2.) vs Blues (7.)

The Sharks often "pull a Keith" by changing the course of the game and ousting a better team. The Blues almost always fall flat in the playoffs and I don't really think this season is going to be any different.

Sharks in 6.

Canucks (3) Flames (6).


The Canucks won't get nearly as far as they would with Bertuzzi who is suspended from the playoffs. The addition of Sanderson and Rucinsky should help perhaps only enough to get past the first round.

The Flames however are one of the hardest working teams in the NHL so don't count them out just yet. This matchup could go down to the wire.

Canucks in 7.



Avalanche vs Stars

Dallas is weaker than they would like most other teams to think. The Lanche I think will shock a lot of people and oust the Stars in a mere 5 games.


Eastern Matchups

Maple Leafs vs Senators

Ah, a good old North of the border matchup. A great way to see two different styles of the game of hockey be played. The Leafs play old school rough and tumble pond hockey and the Sens. play a hybrid of the breezy skating method with a pinch of the smothering trap. I would like to see the Leafs come out here because they work so hard. However I think Eddie the Eagle's days are behind him and I am going to with the Sens in 6 games.

Bruins vs Canadiens


This original six matchup will end quickly with the Bruins skating to the 2nd round in a mere 5 games. In fact if the Devils don't best the Flyers I see the Bruins going to the finals.

Lightning (1) vs Ilsanders (8)
I said it once and I will say it again. The Ilsanders suck. They are by far the worse team that has made it into the post season.

Flyers vs Devils
.

I am going to against the popular vote and vote the way I would have to do if I got paid to write a hockey column and go with the Devils in 7. Can the Flyers win? Sure they can. However if I had to actually put money on it or if my life depended on it I would say the Devils are going to win this series.



Note to Readers:
Sorry for any grammar or spelling errors. Also I hope that I didn't slip and make any smart-ass remarks. Because we all know that smart ass remarks are not what the crew is about.

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Atten:
Mary Jackson

As of Saturday 4/10 I will be stepping down from my Sales position at Sears Retail Outlet. After long consideration I have come to the conclusion that there are no longer any advancements opportunities for me with the company.

I am thankful for my more than 5 years of employment with the company and appreciate all the times my schedule was adjusted during the times I was in school.

I have gained many skills during my employment with Sears that will likely help me in my future positions Thank you again for the years of employment both full and part time.

Sincerely

Keith Hughes

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Sopranos Wrap Up.


Last week Tony got pissed at Robert Loggia after he didn't seem to want to fall into line. More importantly he got worried that he would have another Richie on his hands so Tony set him up and Robert Loggia was sent back to the big house.

Meanwhile AJ continues to become more of a rebel now that it is just him and his mother living in the house. AJ lies about his where abouts for the night to his mother with Meadow covering for him. After a concert he gets drunk and weeded up and passes out only to have his friends shave his eyebrows off. When caught in a lie Carmella kicks him out and he resides now with Tony in Artie in Tony's mother's old house.

Meanwhile two high profile NYC mob members are whacked as result of their loyality to Little Carmine and not Johnny Sacks. This brings the body total to 5.

Predictions:

No one important dies this week and lots of the shootings seen for the trailer are just in someones dreams.

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

"What Do You Mean Goalie Controversy?"


Some people actually are starting to say Burke might get a second crack at the number one spot. The Flyers have a spring tradition that we have to wonder who the goalie is going down the streech. Although I don't think Burke is going to take over number one I was surprised he didn't start last Saturday.

Anyway anything that could be considered an issue was settled when Burke came to town really. Burke came to town to back up Esche. Despite the fact that Esche has played awful his past two starts he has been the better netminde. I think you have to keep with him.


First off the people that still think FRANK should get a shot are nuts. Yeah he should have played a few games and referencing Boucher and Hextall's runs you could argue that the Flyers should have taken a run with an unproven. However unlike Hexy and Bosh, Frank isn't trained in the NHL style and rink size. Plus they had more time during the regular season. So going with Frank to be the man with less than half the season would have been seen as an almost desperate move. NOt to mention a dick move to Esche who at the point had pretty decent season.

So basically if you want to talk about a goalie controversy it should be if Esche is a Cup goalie or not. Certainly not who should start. The Flyers problem is that haven't been able to draft their goalies well and when they do they keep them. Although I am pretty sure at this point some of them were busts anyway. Regardless there will not be many times when "Cup Goalies" will be up for grabs in the free agent market like a few years ago. So basically the future is in drafting a goalie well and inveseting time and patience. In the mean time you hope your so-so goalie gets hot. Honestly what goalie could the FLyers have landed this season to make a difference?